2011 Comic-Con: NBC Fall Show 'Awake'

Awake has my vote for one of the more interesting new shows coming down the pike based on a captivating and haunting premiere that was screened at the panel. The concept at first sounded like another Lost-like mystery-drama, but Awake was surprising on pretty much every level. NBC’s new show, unlike other “mystery” shows like Lost or the upcoming Alcatraz, is designed so that the viewer doesn’t really know or even want to know what is true or false. You want to experience this ambiguity forever rather than deal with the sad reality. Star Jason Isaacs (the elder Malfoy from the Harry Potter films) was joined on the panel by executive producer Howard Gordon (24) and Creater/Screenwriter Kyle Killen. The audience enthusiastically applauded the show and asked thoughtful questions. Just as the panel ended, an attendee next to me remarked: “This is something that’s going to get cancelled just when you’re really into it.” I had to admit the thought had crossed my mind. I hope it gets time to find its audience. Isaacs is a detective who may or may not be losing his mind after a car accident in which he was driving robs him of a loved one. Who died? Well… it’s complicated. When the show opens, it’s his teenage son who perished in the wreck. But each night he goes to sleep, and when he opens his eyes, he finds himself in another version of his life where it was his wife who died in the crash. We see that crash in the first few seconds — and it’s scary, violent, and fast. And the show doesn’t present either reality as necessarily “real”: from the start, there is a very real possibility one or both are totally imagined or hallucinated by Isaacs’ character. Indeed he has a therapist in each reality.